885,000 Britons flush phones down the toilet

Accidental flushes cost £342 million a year

The British public lose mobile phones worth £342 million each year... by accidentally flushing them down the toilet. Yes, apparently of the 4.5 million handsets that we Britons lose every year, 885,000 of them are flushed down the bog.

The research was carried out by SimplySwitch.com , and if the results are to be believed, 1.5 per cent of us flush our phones by accident every year.

On top of that, we lose 810,000 phones in pubs, 315,000 in the back of taxis and 225,000 of them on the bus, every year. Technology-hungry canine pets chewed their way through 58,500 handsets, and 116,000 phones were drowned in the washing machine.

The research also found that over 25 per cent of us have lost or broken our phones, men being more prolific phone-losers than women.

Phone-losing nation

"Because most people now rely on their mobile to stay in touch, it's a good idea to keep a copy of your phone numbers on a computer or spare sim card," said Karen Darby from SimplySwitch.com.

"As phones continue to shrink in size, they also become easier to lose, so people need to take extra care."